


Let's Stop Before Someone Gets Hurt

by red-light (Demeters_daughter)



Category: Ava's Demon
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/M, i made the description sound all cool but dont let that fool you friends, lots of Maggie and Ava friendship, sort of like the soulmate scenerio in the movie Hancock, soulmates au kind of ?, superhero au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-02-04 03:46:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12762474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demeters_daughter/pseuds/red-light
Summary: Ava has the mighty responsibility of protecting the people from criminals with the help of her best friend and their incredible powers. Although she's a bit nervous about it she has enough power that nothing can stand in her way (except herself), but what happens when what she thought was a one-time villain suddenly shows up over and over, and their rivalry turns into something much deeper, and more dangerous?





	1. The Permit

“”Do we really have to do this?”  
“Unfortunately.”  
Ava and Maggie entered the government building. There was a waiting room, like the ones found in hospitals, and a woman sitting behind a wall of glass with an opening level to her mouth. Maggie took a number, and they both sat down. Three numbers came before theirs.  
“This place doesn’t _look_ as secure as the TV says..”  
“Do you think we’ll have to give a demonstration?” Ava asked nervously. Her friend could sense her unease and reached out to hold her hand, to which she smiled and entwined their fingers together.  
“Definitely, but I don’t think it’ll last long. And besides, if you can’t handle showing off to one person, how are you going to feel when you start volunteering? Lots of people will see you.” Although she was trying to be considerate, Ava knew Maggie was also giving her an out. They had been talking about this for a long time, almost ever since they had met, but they could still leave if there was any uncertainty.  
Ava nodded and squeezed Maggie’s hand.  
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s just the butterflies, you know?” 

On the little TV in the corner of the room the local news was being broadcasted. Someone had robbed a bank, someone had stolen a car, someone had kidnapped the lover of a prolific political figure. Same old, same old. Their numbers dinged onto the screen above the front desk. The two girls, still hand-in-hand, approached the desk and the woman behind the wall of glass.  
“Welcome to “The Office”, how can I help you today?”  
“We’re looking to get student permits.” Maggie answered.  
“Are you both 16 years of age or older?”  
“Yes.” “Yes.”  
“You understand that once a permit is obtained you cannot try to discontinue your service until at least one calendar year has gone by, correct?”  
“Yes.” “Yes.”  
“And that for each year of service, approximately twenty thousand dollars will be given to each of you to be used solely for the purpose of paying towards your secondary educations?”  
The “yes”s that came with this question came out as excited hiccups. True, providing a service to the community and generally helping people was a fantastic thing to do, but for two very, very, very, _very_ poor girls, the financial aide was welcomed with open arms.  
“Please sign these forms stating that you understand the rules and will not reveal any information given to you throughout your time spent here to the media, your friends or family, or any criminals of any kind.”  
They both signed the forms with shaking hands. It was only now that they were putting ink to paper that this choice was starting to feel real.  
After the completed forms were plucked from their hands by the woman, they were given instructions on where to go to proceed to the next step.  
“Through the door marked A5 you’ll find the interview room.” She informed them. “There will be a lie detector test and a metal detector scan for you both to go through on your way there. Don’t worry, everyone has to go through it their first time.”  
~

The interview space looked somewhat like a gym, but with a desk in the front where a man in a suit was waiting for them. Part of preparing for visiting The Office was having one’s paperwork arranged for presenting to this man behind the desk. Ava and Maggie sat in the cushioned chairs on the other side of the desk and waited with anticipation as the man went through their documentation.  
“Criminal record check?”  
“Yes.” “Yes.”  
“Psych evaluation?”  
“Yes.” “Y-yes.”  
“Your recommendations from your teachers are...interesting.”  
Maggie had used her wit and strong powers of debate (and intimidation) to persuade her teachers into providing her with a passable review, whereas Ava’s teachers had looked at her with pitiful faces and considered her ‘weak personality’ and ‘distracting tendances’ to be less-than-desirable qualities.  
The man leafed through the rest of the forms.  
“Normally I would consider your teacher recommendations a concern,” He eyed Ava specifically. “But we currently have a shortage of candidates with dead parents, so you both pass.”

 

In the gym-like section of the room they were supposed to present their ‘abilities’. The number of people with these abilities compared to normal people were nearly abyssmal. Hardly 1% of the population had been gifted with special powers, which ranged from incredible to mundane. One kid they’d heard of could manipulate objects to his will, but only if those objects were milk or milk by-products. Another one could see into the future, but only by twenty minutes. There was a very well-known man who lived in an old house filled with cats who claimed he had known how to speak Italian perfectly all his life, without ever having Italian relatives or taking a single lesson.  
These powers were all unextraordinary, mundane.  
Ava and Maggie’s were not.

“What will you be presenting today?” Asked the man, who held a clipboard and pen, ready to evaluate. Maggie went first and stood in the middle of the room.  
“Plant manipulation.”  
“Hold on then, we’ll get you something to work with-”  
“It’s not really necessary, I can do it either way.”  
Had a tree or flower been present, she could have used her powers to effortlessly soak life into its leaves and force it to grow at an incredible rate and wrap around enemies or swing like a bat to take down obstacles. But, since there were no plants in the room, Maggie had to work harder and use more energy to utilize her abilities. Rather than growing from a pot of soil or a plot in the ground, roots and vines began slithering up her arms and wrapping around her skin. They seemed to sprout from her pores and crawled towards her forearms, wrapping around her hands over and over to form two giant clawed-fists made entirely of roots and vines.  
Ava clapped quietly and Maggie tried not to chuckle.  
“Impressive. Do these plants add any additional strength or power?” The man asked.  
With the help of the provided weights, Maggie proved the extra help allowed her to lift up to 150lbs without hurting herself.  
“Have you come in contact with anyone who may be considered your Other Half?”  
The room became quiet. The man elaborated somewhat.  
"If you have you must report it as soon as the preliminary symptoms begin; such as unusual fatigue, dizziness, shortness of breath, or inability to control your powers as you normally would. As you both probably know, too much time spent with your Other Half is fatal. If we know who to keep you separated from, we can help."  
Maggie shook her head, no.  
"Well, do let us know if you happen to come across these symptoms during your time spent with other heroes.  
Where they had grown up, in the Orphanage, Ava and Maggie had heard of 'Other Half's. They were like a soulmate, except you weren't supposed to find them. From what they understood, your Other Half was a person you'd be drawn to, you wouldn't be able to help it, it would be like fate, but if you stayed near them for too long you would slowly become sickly and weak, until eventually you'd lose your powers and die. Only super-powers individuals had Other Halfs. 

Next was Ava's turn. She stood in the middle of the room, feeling meek and silly.  
“And what are you presenting?”  
“Um...I have two, strength and fire manipulation.” She glanced over at Maggie, who threw her a thumbs-up.  
While Maggie could lift 150lbs with her powers, Ava’s current deadlift record was 700lbs. Growing up, she’d been kicked out of many, many foster homes for accidentally breaking furniture such as doors, tables, and doorknobs. After her abilities became clear, she was quietly removed from the foster system by the government and moved to an orphanage created specifically for “her own kind”. It was there that she met her best friend, Maggie Lacivi.  
After demonstrating her strength by lifting the heaviest of the weights, she rolled up her sleeves and focused her energy into fiery blasts she expelled from her palms. With this power she destroyed the punching bag hanging from the ceiling, sending it up in flames. In addition to her bursts of fire, she could also elevate her body temperature enough to melt steel with just a touch of her hand. The heat created by using her powers burned under her skin. A side-effect of such intense heat boiling within her was the lava that would sometimes gurgle in her throat, and she’d spit it up if she exerted herself too much. Sometimes it would happen if she was sick, too, and because of it she'd gotten a permanent excuse from gym class once she found running too fast made the lava dribble down her chin and ruin the gym floor. The officials at the Orphanage had had a hard time explaining her out of that one. 

“Besides those you have interacted with in the orphanage, have you both been keeping your powers hidden to the general population?” The man asked once the evaluation was complete.  
“Yes.” “Yes.”  
“Alright,” He exhaled, and slipped all their paperwork into crisp manila folders. From a drawer in his desk, he found two sheets of paper and two black masks.  
“First, these are your volunteer forms. To be eligible for this program and a stand-up hero to this city, you need to have a police officer sign this form every time you actively help with a crime-in-progress, you need a minimum of 5 signatures per month, do you understand?”  
“Can it be any crime?” Ava asked.  
“Any crime wherein the police or fire department are called, yes.”  
Okay, that’s not so bad, she thought. Five signatures didn’t seem like much at face value, but she could tell that helping out with five crimes per month would be harder than it sounded.  
The next order of business were the masks. They looked like your garden-variety superhero masks, like the ones you’d see any hero wear in a comic book.  
“These masks are built with state-of-the-art technology. Not only will they form-fit onto any face so you don’t have to worry about them falling off when you bend down, but they are equipped with neurotransmitters that fog the brain’s facial recognition capabilities.”  
“Oh,” Said Maggie. “So that explains why heroes can look literally exactly the same as their civilian form, but no one ever realizes who they are as soon as they cover the top of their face with that mask?”  
“Yes. Now, people that know you intimately well _might_ recognize you. For instance, you two would probably be able to recognize each other because you’re so close.” He explained. Neither girl could resist testing it out, and each took a mask and placed it against their face.  
Ava didn't recognize her dearest friend right away, she felt as though the memory of who she was was just beyond her reach, like a word you search for on the tip of your tongue. It only took a few seconds, however, for her brain to fill in the pieces.  
“That’s incredible! Like, I can see that it’s your face and all but _who_ the face belonged to just didn’t come to me at first.” Ava said in amazement.  
“So you shouldn’t have any problem concealing your identity from everyday villains. Only those who are acutely aware of your voice, mannerisms, quirks, and features would be able to tell who you are. Just make sure you always wear the mask when fighting crime.”  
They both nodded and returned the masks to the man.  
“Now, I’ve issued you both hero names based on your individual abilities.” He gestured towards Maggie first. “You will be called Morning Glory, after the flower, of course.”  
She didn’t seem entirely pleased with this name, and Ava had to hold her tongue to keep from snickering.  
“And you will be Firestarter.”  
Unlike Ava, Maggie did not hold back with her guffawing. She was buckled over in inappropriately loud laughter.  
“Firestarter? _Firestarter_?”  
The man waited silently for her to finish her episode, then finished his session with them. Ava was blushing madly.  
“You will be given your special-class clothing upon your departure of the building. If you have any problems, be sure to drop by and speak with the receptionist.” The man informed them.  
“Welcome to the program, today you are officially government-sponsored heros.”

~

Ava stood in the closet, yanking wads of specialized spandex up over her legs and chest. She had been instructed to wear what was basically a spandex sports bra as well as a pair of spanx, which were supposed to be tear-proof and heat resistant, underneath whatever she chose to wear as her hero outfit. This was a precaution; apparently it wasn’t uncommon for clothes to be ripped during fights, or for heroes of the past to be highly sexualized (especially the underage ones), so wearing these underclothes would prevent accidental exposure during fights. The heroes _were_ being represented by the government, after all.  
Whatever she wore on top of the spandex was up to her, though she didn't have many options.  
She stepped out of the closet and into the bedroom, Maggie’s. The two of them lived in a one-bedroom apartment (Ava’s bed was in the livingroom, and Maggie’s room also housed the dryer and washing machine) which they managed to rent for a fantastic price, because the landlady who lived downstairs cut them a deal on the condition that Maggie would care for the flowers in the front garden because ‘she had such a green thumb’. 

Ava was greeted with her friend standing before her, also dressed in her chosen superhero ensemble; a pair of shorts with a pink-flower pattern and a black tank top with a high neck.  
“Oh my gosh, _why_ are you wearing a romper?” She exclaimed, laughing at the brownish-red patterned romper Ava had thrown on on top of her spandex.  
“Oh, you’re right, Maggie, lemme just throw on my instagram model hipster-Starbucks outfit, oh wait, you’re already wearing it!” She snapped back, punctuating her sentence with bubbly laughter.  
“It’s not as if we have cool superhero costumes just laying around, this is the best I’ve got!”  
“Me too!”  
Maggie chuckled. “That romper belongs to me, though.”  
“Well it’s the best _you’ve_ got, then.”  
Maggie grabbed a pillow from her bed and threw it at Ava’s face. The blow was returned and a one-sided pillow fight erupted with Maggie completely at her friend’s mercy. She spotted the second pillow on the far side of the bed, but not before Ava spotted it as well, and they both jumped for it at the same time, falling onto the bed with laughter.  
“Maggie?”  
“Mm?”  
They laid on their backs, both staring up at the ceiling and hugging their pillows.  
“What if something happens? What if we get hurt?”  
“We probably will get hurt, but we’re both pretty tough. And we’ll be saving people’s _lives_.”  
“Maggie?”  
“Yes, Ava?”  
“What if we die?”  
To this, Maggie rolled onto her side, facing Ava, and threw her a serious expression.  
“Ava Ire. You know that I would never ever let anyone kill you. They would--”  
“That’s not what I’m worried about, Maggie. I know you could protect me.” Ava interrupted, still laying on her back. “It’s just… what if I can’t protect _you_?”  
There was a silence between them for awhile, and the weight of their own mortality sat heavily on their chests. If Maggie had let the question linger in the air for a moment longer, the real fear caused by this possibility would have smothered Ava right there, and her fire would have been put out completely. She didn't care much about her own life, that was part of the reason she'd been so eager to become a hero, because she wasn't scared of death and just wanted to help people, but Maggie..  
Maggie spoke just in time to save Ava from her own self-doubt and worrisome heart.  
“Ava, we’ve been together ever since we were little. We picked middle names for each other,” This was true. With no legal middle names given to them, at 6 years-old they chose Cinnamon-Bun and Dinosaur for one another. “We’ve survived every bully at the orphanage. Remember when you stopped that boy who wouldn’t stop pulling on my hair with his telekinesis? If it wasn’t for you the utility bill for this place would be astronomical and I would have frozen to death long ago.”  
She won a quiet giggle from Ava.  
“If anyone was ever going to have to save me, it would be you. And I know you can do it, you’ve been doing it for years.” Maggie concluded, a soft smile on her face. The other girl finally rolled over to face her, and sighed.  
“The first time we go out, let’s pick a something easy, okay?”  
Maggie tried very hard not to laugh. “Can you define an ‘easy’ crime for me?”  
“I don’t know! Maybe something without guns!”  
She nodded and closed her eyes, the exhaustion of the day beginning to creep up on her.  
“Sure. No guns, you bet.”  
"You know," Ava began. "When we first heard about an Other Half, I thought you were mine. But that's impossible."  
"Oh? Why is that?" Maggie feigned hurt. "I'm not good enough, Ire?"  
"No no," She laughed. "Because you don't make me weaker, you make me stronger."  
Maggie gasped dramatically and rolled over directly on top of Ava, and spews strings of loving words in a comical manner, "I'm so touched! I didn't know I meant so much to you!" and both girls laughed.  
Ava stayed awake longer than Maggie, and spent that time drifting into daydreams about the trails they were bound to face and the enemies they would interact with. Heroes were created to combat villains. She was happy she had such a great friend to go through this with her, but during times like these, when she was the only one still up, her heart couldn't help but feel cold. In an effort to leave herself with a happy thought, she wondered if the two of them would make any friends during their adventures together. Maybe there would be other heroes who got along with them really well.  
Before she fell asleep, she pulled the blanket up over their bodies and carefully wedged her pillow underneath Maggie’s head without waking her.


	2. Little Bird

A cup of three-day-old mashed potatoes, an apple, and a slice of pizza so greasy it could be rung out like a washcloth. For some reason, when the school promised its students a ‘healthy, balanced meal’, they had gotten confused somewhere along the way, and Ava was given this mess.  
Maggie was already talking to her before she even got close enough to the table to hear her.  
“Is it weird that I’m worried but also excited?” She asked between bits of her ownapple. Ava sat across from her and took a cautious spoonful of her mashed potatoes. They tasted like cardboard.  
“Like, I want to know what it’s going to be like, you know? Until we actually _experience_ it we have no choice but to imagine the worst! But we won’t know until we get out there!” In her hand was the small pager they’d been given. It was supposed to alert them when a crime was being committed that needed a hero’s help. It had yet to make a sound.  
“It hasn’t even been a day yet, Maggie.” Ava sighed. “But I know what you mean.” She wanted to do good and help people, but she was scared of the danger or that she’d be a failure of a hero. But they wouldn’t know anything about the experience until something happened.  
“I’m surprised it’s been so quiet, actually. Normally Pedri’s villain possé are up to _something_.” Maggie mused. Pedri was the name of the most famous, most powerful crime boss in the city. He had almost every villain under his thumb, doing his bidding.

In her last bite Maggie caught a seed in her teeth, and when she spit it out onto a napkin it had already germinated.  
“Do you want me to freshen up your apple for you? It looks a little bruised.” She offered. Ava smiled and handed the sad fruit over to her, and watched as the apple became more richly colored and plump in her palm. Having a friend who could grow any fruit or vegetable or make anything rotten fresh again was a blessing that did not go unappreciated.  
“Thanks.” Ava said, taking back her apple and biting into it noisily. That crisp crunch and tangy juice of a fresh-picked apple had returned to the revitalized fruit. “You know...as much as I _love_ your god-like abilities to give us as much produce as we could ever want, I could really go for some meat.”  
“Oh? Too good for my garden, are we?” Maggie huffed.  
“Don’t get mad, it’s not that. It’s just that we need some protein, and we haven’t bought meat this whole month.” As much as she loved the vegetarian diet they were on, she would kill for a cheeseburger. “Maybe we could pick up some ground beef on the way home today and make something? It’s not too expensive.”  
Maggie slumped over in her chair and let her shoulders droop at her sides. “You do make a point,” She said. “Plus we’d probably have leftovers--”  
Just as she was finishing her thought, their pager came to life. Ava nearly choked on her mouthful of food.  
“Holy shit holy shit!!” Maggie exclaimed. She could hardly get a good look at the numbers on the screen her hands were shaking so bad.  
“What does it say?!” Ava coughed. She stretched across the table so she could look at the screen, too.  
217 87 Lichen Ave.  
“That’s just a few blocks away!”  
“What does 217 mean?” Ava asked. Maggie shrugged.

They bolted out of the cafeteria, the school, and down the street. Ava’s stubby legs made it difficult to keep up with the other, much faster girl.  
“Ah, don’t forget..” Maggie panted between strides. “We can’t..call each other our names..in front of the bad guy..”  
“Oh fuck,” Ava gasped, “Please don’t tell me..that means you’ll be calling me--”  
“ _Firestarter._ ” Despite her ragged breathing Maggie still managed a throaty laugh.  
Ava groaned so loudly she was yelling through the street. 

 

They took turns getting changed in the bathroom of a coffee-shop. If it wasn’t for the black masks, they would’ve walked on the scenes looking like regular citizens. They were nearly escorted off the premises.  
“We’re here to help! We’re the heroes you ordered.” Maggie loudly informed the police when they tried to take their arms and lead them away. “Morning Glory.” She pointed to herself, and couldn’t help but smile when she gestured to Ava. “And Firestarter.” God these names were stupid.  
“What’s the situation?” Ava asked the policeman. The question didn’t need to hang in the air very long; only moments after she asked, two figures burst from inside the building they were standing in front of. It was a parking complex. The figures flew from the third or fourth floor of the building, then hovered in the air. Ava could see wings. Black wings.  
“Is that..a bird..?” She questioned in awe. The first figure, the one with the wings, lowered itself, though it still flew about 100ft in the air. It was clear now what it was that had the wings. “It’s..a little girl?”  
The young girl was carrying the second figure, an adult man, and seemed to be struggling to keep a grip on him. The man was clearly scared shitless.  
“You son of a bitch!” The girl screamed. “This is what you get! Now apologize or I will drop you!” She purposefully stopped the beating of her huge wings and let them both fall about twenty feet, then resume the flapping of her wings with a hysterical cackle.  
“They call her and her sister the Harpies. They’re very intelligent, but her only known power is flight, so she isn’t much of a danger to _you_ both, but for this guy..”  
The girl was clearly very pissed off and wagging the helpless man around like an old sock.  
Maggie and Ava stepped closer towards the girl, and the rest of the policeman stepped back, so they were given a wide girth with which to try and communicate with her. They had the floor.

“Excuse me!” Ava bellowed. “Could you please set the man down?” Maybe kind reasoning would prevail in this case?  
Apparently not, because the Harpy just laughed and shook the man again.  
“This man,” She yelled back. “Has done me and mine a _great_ injustice and for that he needs to be punished!” Without any further warning, the girl let go of the panicking civilian. She hovered above, watching him fall and relishing in the absolute terror on his face.  
“Mag--Morning Glory!” Ava screeched, and her partner’s quick reflexes jolted into action. Maggie instantly summoned an arm of branches that lurched forward and grabbed the man midair.  
“No! He needs to suffer, let him go!” The girl growled, and dove down straight towards the source of the hand holding her hostage in the air, nails as sharp as claws ready to strike. Maggie was busy trying to slowly lower the man towards solid ground, and was therefore vulnerable.  
Ava quickly stepped in front of her friend and once the Harpy reached her she grabbed the young girl’s outstretched arms and held her firmly in place. Her wings flapped wildly and Ava had no choice but to yank her away from Maggie, throwing her sideways and onto a parked car.  
“Oh my god, are you alright?” She rushed towards the child, her soft, squishy heart swelling with guilt. She may have been holding a man hostage but she was still a _kid_!  
The body was limp when she reached it, and the girl was facing away from her. Her body was tucked into a dent the force had left in the vehicle. She reached out her hand to turn her over, nudge her shoulder, something, but was taken by surprise when the body whipped around and grabbed her. She sunk her claws into Ava’s arms, eliciting a pain-stricken howl. Before she could get a chance to get away, she was lifted up into the air by the pair of coal-colored wings. 

The ground became further and further away, until Maggie looked like a pea. Ava was _not_ a fan of heights.  
“Oh no oh no oh no no no PLEASE let me down!” She felt like she was going to vomit.  
“I’m going to drop you then I’ll pick up your friend and drop her too.” The girl said, and flew higher into the air. She seemed determined to kill her victim this time. There was no way she was letting his banshee hurt Maggie, child or not. It was time she actually contributed to this fight.  
With the nails dug into her arm her mobility was limited, but she willed the molten lava cradled inside her to spike her body temperature. The heat allowed her to easily taste the flames on her tongue and spit a curling rush of fire past her lips and straight into the face of her attacker. The Harpy shrieked and one of her hands let go to brush the cinders from her cheeks.  
“You--!” The girl hissed, and in one last-ditch effort to hurt her she slung Ava through the air and she landed hard on the concrete roof of the parking complex. 

 

Ava twitched her fingers. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain ripping through the back of her skull. A fistful of her long hair was being yanked upwards and her head lifted from the ground. She winced, and her eyes slowly blinked open to find herself face-to-face with a young man a few years older than herself. He was so close, examining her with such focus, with dark eyes encircled by a similar mask as her own, but more worn at the corners and faded in color. It only made his eyes all the more piercing.  
“W-would you quit harassing my s-sister?” He spoke. His sounded low and somewhat hoarse, like he’d eaten a spoonful of sawdust before showing up. Was that his real voice or was he trying to sound intimidating?  
Ava snarled at him, “Let me go.”  
He laughed.  
“If y-you insist.”  
With a hard whack, Ava’s head hit the concrete once the boy’s hand released her hair. She heard him chuckle. She felt light-headed.  
He walked away from her, approaching the Harpy who stood on the edge on the roof. The girl was panting.  
“Hey, Harpy #1, wh-what do you think y-you’re doing?” Once he was standing by the edge he pulled something out of his pocket and put it to his lips. Ava pulled herself off the ground and stood on two shaky legs. She could feel the blood from the Harpy’s claws dripping down her arm.  
The boy’s back was turned away from her, and he put a lit match to the thing he was holding- a pipe, and breathed in a lungful of smoke. Disgusting.  
“Wow, are you trying to _scold_ me? That might work if you weren’t such a loser yourself.” The Harpy snapped at him. He groaned. Ava took a breath and steadied herself.  
“At least I’m not th-the one who’s going to be in deep sh-shit.”  
“That guy was _harrassing_ Merita, what was I supposed to do, let it slide? He deserved to die!” The Harpy screeched. “Don’t tell me Olai found out I left?”  
“Y-yup.”  
“Damnit.”  
Ava saw her opportunity, the girl was covering her face in anguish (for whatever reason) and the boy was concerning himself with his pipe, so she snapped up the opening and broke into a run towards them both. With one fist raised, ready to strike, the distance between them became shorter and shorter, until she was nearly on top of the boy, ready to make brutal contact with the side of his face and launch him straight into prison.  
Just before she was close enough to align her fist with his jaw, he turned, calmly, to face her. Before she could register what was happening, the smoke cradled in his lungs was exhaled in a cascade of ashy, thick smoke that billowed from his lips and swallowed up the three of them in darkness.  
Ava’s eyes burned and she couldn’t stop the tears from filling her vision and her feet from moving forward. Somehow, the two villains must have slipped away from her, and without any sense of direction she unknowingly strode straight off the building and into the air.

Panic consumed her as she fell, but the smoke in her eyes kept her from properly watching the approaching ground as she descended.  
Just as she was accepting her imminent death and watching her uneventful life pass before her eyes, she was scooped up in mid-air by Maggie’s vines.  
“Hey! Are you alright!?” Her friend shouted from below, her outstretched plant-arms slowly carrying Ava back down to the ground.  
“I’m alright!” Her eyes were still watery and she could only see a blurry version of the other girl. Once she touched down she gave Maggie’s clawed vines a grateful pat, as though they were a separate living thing and not a part of her, and began breathlessly questioning her partner-in-heroism.  
“What happened? Did you see where those two went?”  
“No, unfortunately.” Maggie answered with a frown. “I couldn’t see anything in the smoke! I couldn’t even see you at first, you looked like that girl from ‘Castle in the Sky’ when you popped out of the smoke cloud! I was worried I couldn’t catch you in time.”  
“Thanks for that, I would’ve been a pavement pancake without you.” Ava said. “What about that man? Where is he?” She looked around and found policemen were beginning to approach them. There was an ambulance brought onto the scene, and she could faintly see a figure being loaded into it.  
“He’s fine, once you distracted the Harpy--ugh, your arms look terrible.” Maggie paused to have a look at the gashes on her forearms. As she finished her thought, she herded Ava towards the paramedics to get her injuries looked at. “Anyway, once you distracted the Harpy, I got a chance to grab the guy and bring him to the police. They had to move fast, they were worried the winged girl would snap him up as soon as she saw him.”  
The paramedic was more than happy to look at Ava’s arms, and thanked the two of them for their help. While Ava was getting cleaned and bandaged, Maggie brought their volunteer sheets to a cop to get them signed. As she sat, the paramedic dabbing some cleaning solution on her open wounds, Ava noticed how fast her heart was beating. She could feel adrenaline rushing through her veins and her body felt so restless she wanted to get up and run instead of sitting down (and she hated running!). It felt like all the power she’d been holding back throughout her childhood, all the energy sealed up inside her, was finally let loose and allowed to breathe.  
“Maggie?” She chirped when her friend returned. The paramedic was clipping the bandages in place.  
“Yeah?”  
“Do you..feel weird?”  
“Actually I do.” Maggie confessed. A smile snuck its way onto her face. “I feel...good.” 

 

They waited until they returned to their homestead to finish their conversation, worrying the specifics of their exchange might concern the authorities. As soon as they walked through the door of their apartment, Ava was practically vibrating with excitement and couldn’t stop moving her body.  
“That was amazing! I mean, I know I got hurt and all but it only hurt for a minute and I know it was dangerous but holy shit, that was amazing!” She gushed. The two of them were so riled up they had to basically pace the room whilst talking.  
“I’ve never felt so _me_ , you know what I mean? I feel like I’m a whole new person but that person is the same person I’ve always been, you know what I’m saying?” Maggie was talking so fast she was nearly slurring her words. Ava nodded in agreement and jumped onto the her bed in the livingroom.  
“I feel so powerful! I feel like I could do anything! When I was using my powers, for once in my life, I wasn’t scared!”  
“You’re always scared!”  
“I know! But not when I was using my powers!” Maggie joined Ava on the bed and they held each other’s hands and bounced up and down.  
“We did it, we got our first signature! We had our first fight with bad guys!”  
“We didn’t get to send them to jail, but we did save that man! We saved someone!”  
“Yeah!”  
The two girls felt like little children, they jumped on the bed until it began to squeak nosily in protest, then practically skipped around the house and into the bedroom, where Maggie flopped onto her bed and Ava rummaged through their shared desk to find a notebook and fat red marker.  
“I think we should catalogue the bad guys we come across. Like the stats on the back of hockey cards, but with villains.” Ava suggested. She sat cross-legged next to Maggie on the bed and opened up the notebook to the first page. She drew a scribbly drawing of the Harpy.  
“That sounds like a good idea. Maybe if we find out weaknesses we can mark them down.”  
“Yeah, plus the villains seem less intimidating if we associate them with my awful drawings.”  
Maggie laughed.  
“I heard smoke-boy call this one ‘Harpy #1’, so I’ll write that down.” Ava said.  
“Who’s ‘smoke boy’?” Maggie questioned. Ava raised her brows in confusion.  
“Didn’t you seem him? He was on the parkade with me, he pulled on my hair.” She recalled with disdain. “He’s the one that made all that smoke. I think it’s his power. He called the Harpy his sister.”  
“Oh, that’s interesting! They’re related! Write that down.” It was written down on the bottom of the page. “What did he look like?”  
“He had dark eyes, and he wore a mask like ours. He was staring right at me for like a full minute!” Ava exclaimed. “Dark hair, kinda messy but in that way that you can’t tell if he styled it that way or if he woke up like that, broad shoulders, scruff on his chin..” As she listed what she could remember of him (which was more than she initially thought she’d remembered) she drew a rough drawing of what he looked like. For some reason she could still see his face in her memory, as plain as if he was standing right in front of her.  
“Wow sounds like you really took him in.” Maggie winked at her, making the dumbest expression on the planet. Ava was quick to defend herself.  
“No I didn’t! He was just right in front of me, that’s all!”  
“The Harpy was right in front of you too! You fought her in the air! What did _she_ look like?”  
“She..uhm..she had dark hair too, like him, and she was short..” Ava was blushing furiously. “It doesn’t matter! I _do_ know something about her!”  
“That guy staring at you--which couldn’t have been for a full minute, you weren’t up there very long, has nothing to do with you noticing his ‘broad shoulders’, m’aam.” Maggie continued to tease.  
“Shut up! Unimportant! Anyway, I learned that the Harpy girl, and I guess Smoke-boy, too, might be working for someone. They mentioned the name ‘Olai’. I don’t know who that is, but they seemed scared of him.”  
Maggie was now laying on her stomach watching the marker move as Ava wrote things down.  
“Maybe that’s their boss? I’ve never heard the name before. It’s still interesting though.”  
When it was all said and done they had two pages filled out, with a little extra room to add things as they learned about them.  
The pages read as follows;  
_Harpy #1_  
Power: Flying, and sharp claw-nails.  
Personality: Angry, stubborn, violent  
Pros: Really doesn’t like getting fire in her face  
Cons: Probably has the second Harpy with her normally  
Notes: Sister to Smokeboy, Possible boss ‘Olai’ 

_Smokeboy_  
Power: Can breath smoke  
Personality: Ass, Full of Himself, Mysterious?  
Pros: Not very intimidating, probably better to fight at a distance  
Cons: Can’t see shit in the smoke.  
Notes: Stutters, sister to Harpy #1 

Both passages were, of course, written underneath Ava’s drawings.  
“Hey, you know what?” She said sleepily, placing the notebook down on the floor. The action of the day and the post-action jitters had exhausted her. Maggie seemed to be tired too, she made a small ‘mm’ noise in acknowledgement.  
“I think the reason we felt so good about using our powers today is because we’ve been holding them back and keeping them secret for so long.” She said. Her friend made a muffled noise in agreement. “Like, it’s part of who we are, you know? It’s scary, but sometimes we have to acknowledge the scary parts of ourselves or else they become worse, you know? I’ve had all this fire and strength inside me since I can remember, but that was the first time I’ve ever gotten to use any of it to its full potential, and for something good. It makes me feel...whole.”  
Her words fell on deaf ears, as Maggie had fallen asleep while she was talking. She didn’t mind though, actually it made her feel a bit better to know her musings hadn’t been heard by another person.  
Even though their first adventure had been dangerous and not entirely successful, Ava was excited to go out again. In this moment, she felt confident enough in her powers to help out Maggie during times of need, and to be less of a burden. In her everyday life she was a hassle to others, and practically invisible to other people. She had no good qualities and nothing to offer the world except for her powers. It was nice to be helpful.

She left Maggie’s room and took refuge in her own bed in the livingroom. She cocooned herself in the sheets and closed her eyes. Having been too concerned with her own giddiness upon returning to the apartment, she’d neglected to shower and still smelled like smoke. The scent lingered in her brain and tampered with her dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter ! I had this one written about a week ago, I'm trying to make a buffer for myself. Chapter 3 isn't quite done, but I'm not gonna post it til chapter 4 is partway through! Maybe then I'll be able to update more successfully ? :')  
> Thank you very much for reading ! Please leave a comment, they really brighten my day ! <3


	3. Rough Waters

A few days later they were summoned again.  
They had learned that the numbers beside the address on the pager were police codes that told them what kind of crime they were dealing with. In this case, it was a hostage situation.  
A huge luxury yacht had been hijacked by three villains and was stranded just a mile or so from the city docks. The two girls were told to meet a policeman at said docks where he would give them instructions.  
When they arrived, they were surprised to find a young, though a few years their senior, man in a blue wetsuit waiting for them with the cop. He had icy white hair and a mask like their own. He must have been ‘gifted’ as well.  
The older boy smiled at them both in a friendly manner, and without even looking over at her Ava could tell Maggie was flushed with attraction. She had a strong heart, but it was weak to friendly boys. When he reached out to shake their hands Maggie was eager to accept and lovingly placed her other hand on top of his.  
“A pleasure to meet you both. My codename is Oceania, but since we’re all good guys here, you can call me by my real name, Gil.” The boy introduced himself. “Just, obviously, use the codename when we’re in public.” He laughed awkwardly.  
“The pleasure’s all mine-I mean, ours!” Maggie replied sweetly. “My codename is Morning Glory, but you can call me Maggie.”  
Gil shook Ava’s hand too, but the contact was much more brief. People didn’t tend to like hands as balmy as hers unless it was wintertime and they’d misplaced their gloves.  
“I’m kind of a freelance hero, they only call me for situations like this.” Said Gil. “I’m in Nursing school so my free time is limited.”  
“What do you do, Gil?” Ava asked. She hoped it wasn’t a rude question.  
“I can manipulate water.” He answered. His smile reminded her of one used by a grade-school teacher responding to a tiresome child.  
“I can manipulate plants!” Maggie said proudly, as though the manipulation of nature was a link that bound them together. Ava didn’t want to be left out so she chimed in as well.  
“I...I can manipulate fire! My codename is Fire...starter.”  
Gil didn’t respond. He looked at her but said nothing and the silence was hard to swallow.  
It was then that the cop piped up,  
“Ah, Firestarter? We didn’t actually mean to page you, we won’t be needing your...particular skills.”  
“Oh..”  
She didn’t know what to say. This _was_ a water-related endeavour, a fire-powered nitwit wouldn’t be any help. A stuffy, awkward silence had developed, and she was just about to excuse herself from the group when Maggie spoke up,  
“She’ll be a great help.”  
The policeman was no match for Maggie’s thorny stare and had no choice but to relent and shrug his shoulders.  
The girls were given wetsuits to put on- “Quickly, we want to be en route in 5 minutes”, and scurried behind a building to change. Just like adolescent girls do in swimming pool change rooms, they’d take turns holding up an article of clothing in front of the person changing to protect their modesty in case someone was to walk by. Ava was the first to change, and Maggie stood like a hawk making sure no one was around, diligently shielding her.  
“You didn’t have to do that.” Ava said. She cursed the stupid clingy material of the suit and struggled to yank it up over her thin legs.  
“What are you talking about?”  
“They clearly don’t want me here, I could’ve left.”  
“Hey.” Ava had finished changing so Maggie had a free hand to point a dramatic finger at her face. “You can help plenty. You aren’t _just_ a firestarter, you’re..you’re like Atlas!”  
“Atlas?” Ava took her turn holding up the curtain of clothing.  
“Don’t you pay attention in class?”  
“That’s not exactly fair, Maggie. You look at the boys all day and still get the best grades!”  
“I’m blessed with brains _and_ beauty, what can I say?” She was trying to be funny but Ava wasn’t feeling it. Maggie sighed.  
“Atlas was the figure in Greek mythology who held up the Earth on his shoulders.”  
“Wasn’t that a punishment?”  
“Ugh, that’s not the point!” By now Maggie had finished changing. Her wetsuit was light blue and Ava’s was purple. “The point is you are capable of awesome things, and you are strong! Punishment or not, it’s not like just anybody could carry the Earth. You’ll be a great help cuz you _are_ great!”  
Ava smiled faintly. She was so happy to have such a great friend. Maggie was right, she had her strength as well, and she should be grateful for having two gifts. Sometimes she forgot that.  
“Alright now let’s go, all this mushy stuff is nauseating.” Maggie said and nudged Ava’s shoulder. They both smiled and made their way back to Gil and the cop.

 

Their instructions were as follows:  
Maggie and Ava would engage the criminals on the boat, and Gil would position himself at the bow of the vessel and steer it back to shore. They’d been told the navigational controls had been compromised and the captain locked away somewhere on the boat, so Gil would be totally rooted at the front of the boat using the water to steer. The two girls would be responsible for making sure the hostages were safe and the villains were under control.  
Ava and Maggie hopped aboard the police-issue jet ski the policeman lent them for the mission.  
“Go on ahead of me and make sure the passengers are safe. I won’t be far behind.” Gil told them. When he submerged himself into the water several slivers of skin along his neck split open and real gills appeared. He flashed them a smile and Maggie swooned a bit.  
Ava almost laughed, her friend was so predictable when it came to boys; always handsome, always tall, always had nice hair. All they had to do was smile. She wondered if Maggie would swoon at Smokeboy if she met him. Probably. He fit the bill except for his hair, which didn’t look nearly as princely as Gil’s.  
“Alright, safe travels.” Maggie said to their new ally before revving up the jetski and taking off in the direction of the yacht.

 

The salty ocean air felt wonderful against Ava’s face. Despite the serious nature of their ride, she allowed herself to close her eyes and just soak up the sounds of the water and the dewy droplets of ocean that touched her cheeks. The larger the boat became in their line of sight, the slower Maggie had to drive. The loud rumble of the engine would give them away if they weren’t careful. By the time they made it to the side of the vessel the engine was off completely and Ava had dipped into the water, pushing the vehicle the rest of the way with her superpowered-strength as she swam. Once they touched the side of the yacht, Maggie used her vines to tie on the jet ski as well as lift them both up onto the deck of the stern. They couldn’t see anyone nearby, but they could hear the huge flapping wings of a Harpy.  
“Okay, let’s try not to be spotted and find the hostages first.” Maggie suggested. They crept quietly across the deck towards the ship’s quarters where the hostages were likely kept. Most of the walls of the exterior common areas of the boat were made entirely in windows, so hopefully they would be able to see the civilians from the outside once they were close enough. They hid behind anything anything large enough to conceal them.  
“Ava!” Maggie whispered. “I know this is a stressful situation but stop glowing!”  
She hadn’t even noticed but it was true, the blood pumping full-throttle in her body was making her skin glow like an ember. She rubbed at her cheeks and took a deep breath in an effort to dull her complexion.

The main common area of the vessel, where the dancing and parties were held, was where the hostages were being kept. The girls came upon the walls of the room and gazed inside via the large window-walls. They stayed crouched and partially hidden by maintenance equipment in an effort not to be seen. They could see the people inside, about 50 of them, dressed in swimsuits and vacation wear. One of the Harpies, the one they’d met already, was standing in front of the only exit in the room. She was holding a megaphone.  
“Listen up, people! Hand over your wallets, jewelry, and room keys! One at a time, c’mon.”  
The frightened passengers handed over their valuables one by one into a large sack held up by the young girl.  
They waited for a minute or two, observing the villainess, then they heard the handle of the door near them creak. Without hesitation, they ducked behind a stack of crates, out of sight. 

Ava watched the handle turn, and a funny feeling came over her, different from the fear and worry she’d been feeling previously. Though she couldn't explain why, she knew already who was behind the door.  
The door opened, and lo and behold, there stood the boy from last time. She shouldn’t have been surprised that she'd known that, he did seem go wherever his sister went. Maggie glanced over at Ava with an incredibly inappropriate ‘Not bad’ look of approval, and if they hadn’t been hiding from dangerous criminals she would’ve smacked her.  
The first thing they noticed was the look on his face. He looked incredibly anxious, and possibly nauseous. His mouth was a taut straight line but beads of sweat prickling his forhead were shining in the sun. It was kinda gross. 

“Hey! Harpy #2! C-come down here for a s-s-sec!”  
Something strange was going on with him. Besides the cold sweats.  
As soon as he finished speaking, he looked like he was going to step forward, he even lifted his foot, but then he stopped mid-motion as if something had possessed him. He looked around, searching, then his gaze landed squarely at the crates where the girls were hiding. Although they couldn’t been seen from where they hid, and although his focus was clearly muddied and the wooden boxes separated them, she could tell he knew they were there.  
He knew _she_ was there...  
He took a step towards them. Ava was terrified, she could feel the heat under her skin flaring up and feared it would give them away. He reached out a hand, his expression puzzled, as though he wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing, but before he could discover them he was interrupted by the Harpy he’d called for. 

She was another young girl, the same age and nearly the same in appearance as the first one except for the bow in her hair.  
“What do you want, O--”  
“Sh-shut it! Don’t c-call me by my name!” He stuttered in panic. The girl crossed her arms in irritation. She clearly had 0 respect for him.  
“The name you picked for yourself is idiotic. ‘Executioner’? Stupid, just like you.” She insulted. “Besides, the hostages can’t hear me from out here.”  
Smokeboy groaned in frustration. Then he slapped a hand against the wall and steadied himself.  
“Are you going to puke? Disgusting. You’re such a baby!”  
“No! I’m fine, why the hell did we have to rob a b..boat anyway?” He cleared his throat, trying to sound more professional. “We have in-intruders.”  
“What? Where?”  
“Shouldn’t _you_ kn-know that?” He was clearly trying to save face in front of the the little girl (pathetic) but Maggie and Ava didn’t have time to listen to their squabble. They were about to try and sneak away from the distracted pair, but the young bird stopped them in their tracks by suddenly freezing and holding up a finger, “Wait.”  
Everyone was dead silent. They could hear the sound of splashing.

Suddenly the boat lurched to one side, straightening itself towards the shore.  
Gil must have made it to the bow.  
The random motion threw off the balance of those standing on the boat, and everyone except Harpy #2 tripped on their own feet. Ava lost her footing completely and toppled over, landing on her back and directly in the view of the villains.  
Shit. 

All eyes were on her in a split second of stillness and surprise.

It took a moment for everyone to click in to the reality of the situation, but once the action began it was a frenzy of movement and energy. The Harpy lunged towards Ava, but Maggie ensnared her in a net of vines before she could reach the redhead. The Harpy’s body jerked about in a frenzy trying to rip herself free, but Maggie continually layered the plants in a prison around the small body. Ava stood, and just as she turned to combat the male member of the villain party, thick smoke like the kind she’d experienced before shrouded the space around them in blackness.  
Ava clamped her eyes shut, her reflexes faster this time, and held her hands out in front of her to search for something to hold on to. She found the railing of the boat and tried to fan the smoke away, but all at once the smoke disappeared and concentrated its essence into rough, hardened tar that covered Ava’s body and immobilized her. Now that she could see, she saw that Maggie was stuck as well, and the Harpy had managed to free herself from the vines.  
“Let her legs go, I can’t pick her up like this!” She complained to Smokeboy. He obliged, and with a wave of his hand the black substance that fastened her to the deck dissolved into a wispy cloud of smoke.  
Then the Harpy grabbed Maggie, whose arms were still stuck together, and carried her upwards. She could grow plants from her shoulders, but they were weak and small. Without her arms she was without the bulk of her power.  
Ava watched with dread as Maggie was carried off the boat and over the water.  
“NO, no no, let her go! She’ll drown if she can’t use her arms!” Ava pleaded with the boy. He turned towards her, and without a shred of sympathy, just exhaustion, said, “I’m d-done here.” and moved to head back towards the door.  
“You filthy son of a bitch!” Ava screamed. 

The sound of the tar cracking and splitting caused the boy to turn his attention back to her.  
Her skin was sizzling. Broiling lava spilled generously from her mouth and melted the tar. She was panting heavily, releasing her own pale smoke from her nostrils and throat. The tar stood no chance against her strength and sheer rage, and whatever hadn’t melted off her body splintered off like a toothpick.  
“Get..” She ripped one arm free, sending black shards everywhere. “your filth..” The other arm followed, and the hem of her wetsuit was burning. “...off of her.” 

He just stared at her. He couldn’t seem to stop. All the nausea he seemed to be experiencing before had gone. He didn’t do a single damn thing besides stare at her, his dark eyes reflecting the cinders flying from her body.  
It only made her angrier.  
The second she broke her legs free, she ran. 

 

Just as she hoped, Gil was planted firmly on the bow of the boat, carefully steering it towards the dock.  
“ _Gil!_ ”  
She looked back towards the waterline and saw the Harpy was dangling Maggie above the water with one arm now. She couldn’t imagine how scared she must have been.  
“ _GIL!_ ”  
The boy’s concentration broke and the boat halted. He looked back at Ava with irritation.  
“What did I say about my real n--”  
“You have to save my friend, the other girl, she’s in danger, _please_!” Tears were filling her eyes and she had trouble speaking clearly. She showed Gil where Maggie was, and as soon as she pointed at her form dangling above the water, the winged girl let her go.  
The sight of her friend plummeting into the water filled her with horror and she let out a blood-curtling scream.  
“Her arms..she won’t be able to swim..!” Her body was shaking.  
Gil nodded and he left Ava, then jumped off the railing and into the water. His abilities allowed him to streamline through the water with great speed, and she watched as he made it to her landing point in record time.

She heard a sound.

Leaning against the structure of the boat was Smokeboy, with his arms crossed and a stupid fucking goddamn intrigued look on his face.  
Like a wave, all Ava’s fear, anger, hatred, and heartbreak broke away from her body, and localized entirely to her fists. She almost wanted to laugh.  
“You asshole. You absolute trash of a human-being.” She hissed. He didn’t move away as she walked towards him, he didn’t seem scared of her in the least. 

He may not have been scared, but he _was_ going to be hospitalized.  
“I didn’t beat the shit out of you right away, but don’t worry, I didn’t forget.”  
She was so overcome with anger she didn’t care about the damage she dealt. When her fist finally came in contact with his jaw she didn’t hold back any of her strength and sent him flying through the air across the length of the yacht and through the staircase leading up to the viewing deck. He landed in a pile of shredded wood and rubble, his body covered in injury.  
Ava followed behind him and hardly left him a moment to breathe before she was standing above him again.  
He was just looking up at her, waiting to see what she was going to do. It was driving her crazy.  
Still fueled by her fiery emotions, she grabbed a fistful of the front of his shirt and landed another hit against his face. His head fell back for a second, tired from absorbing the blows, and when he lifted his head blood was dripping down his nose.  
Then he raised his hand and held up one finger: ‘Wait’. She didn’t know how to react so she let go of his shirt. He lifted himself up onto his knees and his body slumped forward, taken over by a violent coughing fit. Blood spewed from his mouth and splattered onto the ground. He took a second to catch his breath, then he sat back in a more relaxed position.  
“A-alright, are you d-done?”  
Ava stared at him dumbfounded. Her head felt dizzy and she felt like she wanted to puke.  
He shakily started to stand, and in doing so found his arm to be broken.  
She didn’t know what to do. She was just so angry, so pissed off...  
She hit him again and his head nearly dislocated from his neck it snapped back so hard from the blow. One of the small bones in his cheek had collapsed. His body was bloodied and broken, though whatever agony he was in, he refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing the pain on his face. The only indication he gave that he was hurting at all was the shakines of his breathing. He straightened his head back just enough to lock eyes with her.  
Hers were shining with flames within her irises. His were a dark forest she seemed to find herself lost in.  
“Now…” She brushed his fresh blood off on her wetsuit. “I’m done.”  
He wiped his bloody nose off with his sleeve, his expression unreadable.  
“Alright, th-then.”  
He grabbed his broken arm, and with a loud, painful crack, he snapped the bone back into place with a stifled grunt. Then he started to walk away.  
Once again, she had no idea how to react.

 

Mere minutes later, Gil and Maggie returned to the vessel, surfacing from the water with gulping breaths. Ava was stationed outside the common area where the hostages were kept. The two Harpies had disappeared while she was beating up their brother. He’d walked away somewhere, assumedly still onboard, since he didn’t have wings.  
The other two heroes were soaked and once Maggie saw her she ran to meet up with her. Ava nearly cried she was so happy to see her.  
“Oh Maggie! I thought you were going to drown, I was so scared!” She opened her arms and the two of them nearly fell over from the sheer intensity of the hug. She was overwhelmed with joy to see her friend safe.  
“I was scared too, that birdbrain nearly killed me! But thankfully that black craggy stuff comes off with water so I--”  
“ _What?_ ”  
“That stuff comes off in the water! We have to write that down in the notebook.” Maggie said. Ava was in shock. What an absolutely fucked up son of a bitch that guy was. He let her believe Maggie was going to drown!  
“I swam part of the way back, but thank you for getting Gil for me, you really saved me.”  
They hugged again.  
“When I was up in the air I was so scared I wouldn’t be able to survive the situation. It was horrifying.” She let her head hang limp against Ava’s shoulder and Ava made a cartoonish ‘eeee!’ sound as she squeezed Maggie, making her laugh. 

The rumble of a motor jolted them out of their happy hug bubble.  
“Was that..?”  
The two girls ran to the stern of the boat. They slammed into the railing and leaned over to find their jet-ski missing from where they’d parked it.  
“He didn’t..”  
Sure enough, the motor roared and the jet-ski appeared in view, curtailing around the boat and off in the direction of land. Smokeboy looked over his shoulder at the three heros and gave them a triumphant smirk.  
“You ASSHOLE!”  
He revved the throttle with the arm she was sure she’d broken and high-tailed it away from the yacht and away from them. Ava growled in frustration and Maggie had to yank her away from her fantasies of kicking him so hard he lost all chances of ever procreating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not gonna lie I had to redo parts of the chapter cuz I forgot about Odin's fear of water :')  
> In later chapters I want them to meet as civilians but i'm like 'well shit even with fictional magic face-messing-up-masks how can someone see Odin and go 'HMM he looks JUST like this other dude AND they both have a stutter AND the same voice BUT WHO COULD IT BE' and i think the thing to remember is to suspend a certain amount of disbelief with these thing, y'all


	4. A Second First Meeting

Ava took one of the longest, most aggravated sighs of her life. She was not having a good day.

Actually, just a few days ago her friend nearly drowned and she failed at jailing a bunch of bad guys for the _second_ time, so scratch that, she was having a bad week.

But today in particular, although she had no classes she had been cooped up in the library working on homework assignments and make-up notes she’d missed from the classes she’d had to skip to _fail_ at fighting crime. During her time in the library she just couldn’t shake her bad luck; she had to wait nearly an hour to find a seat with a computer, she forgot her headphones at home, the internet speed was unbearingly slow for no other reason than to spite her, then she broke her favorite pen and stained her notebook as well as her arm with red ink, and finally she hit her coffee cup with her elbow as she was cleaning the ink off her workspace and spilled coffee all over her shirt.  
This was the predicament she was in now, with steaming coffee dripping off her arm and soaking into the cotton of her top. The three spoonfuls of sugar she’d added to her drink was kicking her now by making the drying liquid sticky and gross. She let her head fall back against her chair and groaned in frustration. While normal folks would probably be shrieking over the scalding temperature of the coffee, heat didn’t bother her mutant skin in the least and she was much more concerned with the stains she’d no doubt have to deal with when she got home.  
Thankfully, she had a thin sweater stowed in her backpack she could change into (she liked bringing an extra layer with her on chilly days) but she could feel the weight of the day hanging heavily on her shoulders and she was just about ready to give up and go home to sleep.  
However, with the threat of failing her class staring her in the face, Ava had no choice but to suck it up and carry on.  
But, she couldn’t even dream of doing so without another coffee, and she’d love the opportunity to stretch her legs.

She packed up her materials and shrugged her backpack over her shoulder. She ran the risk of losing her spot while she was away, but she didn’t have a choice. A nice coffee was exactly what she needed, and she could feel her mood lightening with every step she made towards it.

The coffeeshop she liked best was just a few blocks from school.  
It was small and cozy with comfy seats alongside a large window and art hanging on the walls made by local artists. They had a small vase of flowers on the counter where they handed over the drinks and everytime Maggie came along she always spruced up the plants when their backs were turned. It was a calm place, a little paradise. 

She made it to the cafe and placed her hand on the door handle, but when she went to enter the building a large man on a cellphone barrelled past her, nearly knocking her off her feet completely, and walked right on by without even noticing his rude behavior. Though startled for a moment, she tried to compose herself.  
She was so incredibly irritated with the universe for being such a jerk she didn’t even notice a familiar tickle in her stomach.

The line up was longer than she’d ever seen it. She could only take one step inside before colliding with the back of an older, grouchy looking woman who gave her a mean look. Ava sighed. At least she could breath in the delicious scent of the coffee now that she was indoors.  
She pulled her bag to the front of her legs and squat down to rifle through her belongings to get her wallet. She wanted to check if she had enough change to buy a grande size, or maybe an extra shot of espresso instead. Naturally, just as she was in this position rummaging through her bag, the front door opened and without realizing the line stretched so long another person entered just like she had, but when he collided into her he knocked her right over. She fell onto her hip and the contents of her wallet spilled over out onto the floor. The customers in the lineup all looked back at the source of the noise and the blood drained from her face. She couldn’t stand being stared at, and quickly lifted herself off the floor and went to snapping up the loose change and receipts scattered on the floor.  
_Can I please catch a break?_  
The person who knocked her over said something, maybe an apology, but she wasn’t paying attention, she was so frustrated and embarrassed she just wished with all her might her power was invisibility instead of fire. The people had stopped staring already but she could still feel eyes on her.  
Just as she reached out a hand to pinch her fingers around a stray quarter, the fingers of a stranger’s hand brushed her palm, trying but slower than she was at grabbing the coin. The hand pulled away from the brief contact and instead targeted another coin, a nickel. She slapped them away.  
“Hey, what are you--”  
She finally lifted her gaze from the floor to the face of the stranger.  
A pair of dark, intense eyes stared back at her, and her heartbeat fluttered like a bird.

In all her young life she’d never felt such a jarring attraction to another person.  
It felt as though she’d been in a car crash, all the panic and adrenaline of someone whose life was flashing before their eyes overcame her and she found herself struggling for a moment to remember how to breath. All the fever and longing of falling in love hit her at once.  
As incredible as it was that these seemingly random emotions were striking her heart like a lightning rod, what was even more incredible was that the boy she was embarrassingly staring at seemed to be staring too.  
If it wasn’t for the old man behind them in line clearing his throat, she didn’t know how long she would’ve been frozen there. Apparently a bit of a gap in the line-up had formed during their trance.

She snapped out of it.  
“Don’t touch my stuff!”  
He seemed surprised, a bit dazed, but then he frowned and lifted his hands up beside either side his head.  
“Hey, I w...was just tr..trying to help.” He said, his words slow, careful.  
His voice sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place it.  
Ava finished gathering her coins and stood up again, raising a hand to touch her dizzy head. Maybe she stood up too fast. 

He took his place behind her in line and once she reached the counter she felt so flustered it took her two tries to spit out her order properly. She felt like an idiot.  
When her coffee was paid for she stood off to the side to wait for her drink.  
_I must be losing it, maybe I’m overtired?_  
The boy, or rather, young man, was ordering his drink now. Ava watched him with interest, wondering to herself why he’d caught her attention so acutely. He didn’t look unusually handsome, or unusually ugly, he looked like exactly the kind of person you’d pass by on the street without taking a second glance. Ordinary.  
Ever since she’d become old enough to develop crushes, she’d noticed she had a fondness for people with pretty eyes, particularly green, because her friend Maggie had such amazingly gorgeous eyes. This boy had dark eyes, dark enough she could hardly pick out a color in them.  
As he was waiting for the cashier to punch in his total, this strange individual stole a glance in Ava’s direction and caught her watching him.  
Suddenly, her throat began to burn.  
She could feel a thick snake of lava curling up her throat, threatening to spill out of her mouth. She turned her head quickly so she wouldn’t be seen clamping her hand over her lips, then hurried as quickly as she could to the restroom. 

 

Thankfully the restroom was vacant so when she collided into the sink and vomited up a pint of smoking lava into the basin no one was around to see.  
“What is going _on_ with you, Ava?” She asked herself. Scorch marks damaged the sink even after she tried to drain it with water.  
This had never happened before. Sure, she’d had lava spit-up before, a couple times when she was younger because of embarrassment or overworking herself, but never because of a cute boy/girl. Never. 

She had to pull herself together. She must have been getting sick, that would explain it. Maggie had been feeling a little under the weather lately, the first signs of a cold, maybe she was catching it.  
Ava left the restroom, head tilted squarely towards the floor so she could avoid eye contact, and returned to the pick-up counter. She was just in time to watch the barista put out a finished cup of hot coffee. She reached out, but rather than the touch of thin cardboard beneath her skin she felt a cool hand underneath her own, already grasping the coffee.  
Surprised by the contact, Ava’s hand flinched away. The person holding her drink was the boy, now looking at her in confusion.  
“Excuse me,” She cleared her throat. “I think that’s my coffee you’re holding.”  
“Ah, no, th...this one’s m..mine.” He answered.  
The cup was larger than the size she had ordered for herself, and on the side she could see the name ‘Odin’.  
“Then..where’s..” Ava’s voice tapered off and she looked around for her order. The baristas were busy and she saw no sign of her drink.  
“Yours was before mine, r..right? The guy be..behind me, I think he took it.” He informed her.  
“Oh, no, c’mon..” Ava stepped to the side and slapped her face into her hands.  
She’d barely slept the night before. All her assignments were piling up, she was wearing her stupid back-up sweater, she couldn’t walk anywhere without getting pushed around like a ragdoll, she was still reeling from almost losing her dearest friend just a couple days ago, and now she couldn’t even get a stupid coffee.  
She felt so fed up and frustrated she was almost pushed to tears. Everything just seemed to be piling up on top of her lately and she was struggling to breathe.  
“Hey, you alright?”  
The boy was still standing there for some reason. She used her sleeves to quickly wipe away any trace of the tears that were beginning to brim her eyes.  
It took everything she had not to gab and blurt out all her troubles. She’d save that for Maggie.  
“It’s just...been a bad day.”  
She shrugged her shoulders.  
Thinking to herself she should just return home and cut this day short, she walked past the mysterious boy and out the cafe door without allowing him to say anything else.  
Her arm brushed his as she passed and she felt shivers on her skin. 

Rather than return to the library, she decided she would go home afterall. Her computer was probably taken by now anyway.  
She was just starting to round the first corner when she heard someone call out ‘Wait!’ behind her. She stopped and turned to see the boy following behind her. 

“Hey,” He said when he reached her. The situation left her a bit dumbfounded and she didn’t know what to expect, what on earth could he want from her?  
He pulled something from his pocket, a small, square brown bag from the cafe, and held it out towards her.  
“Um..” She didn’t reach for the bag but looked up at his face, unsure of how to refuse without insulting him.  
“T..take it, I’ve got three.” He said. “I got them for my s..siblings, you can have o..one.”  
His generous gesture caught her offguard. “Oh no, I couldn’t! Wouldn’t they be sad they aren’t getting a treat?”  
“Well only o..one of them have been good so,” The boy shrugged. He gave the bag a little shake, wordlessly insisting. “Seriously, you look like y..you need it. It’s fine.”  
She finally accepted the offering and thanked him for his kindness.  
“Hope y..your day improves.”  
He nervously ran a hand through his dark hair, then left without another word.

Ava stood there, holding the small bag and staring until the boy’s figure became lost in the swarm of people going about their day. Her heart beat like a snare. She looked down at the bag in her hand and peeked inside: a large chocolate chip cookie.  
When she turned it over, written on the back of the bag was a phone number. All the heat in her body migrated to her blushing cheeks.  
She wasted no time; she turned on her heel and ran as fast as she could back towards her apartment, unable to keep the grin off her face.  
She _had_ to tell Maggie about this.

 

 

“Alright, alright, run this by me again.”

Maggie was standing in the kitchen whipping up a large pot of potato-leek soup. She had a trough of dirt sitting on the counter and a bag of potato seeds were spilled over across the fake-marble.  
“Okay, so I was at the coffee place, and the guy knocked me over cuz I was looking for money in my wallet--”  
“Did he _push_ you?”  
“No, I was on my knees--that’s not important, anyway, I dropped all my money and he helped me pick it up and oh, Maggie,” Ava gushed. She was sitting on the kitchen table with her legs dangling. “Our eyes met and it was _crazy_ , it was like electricity! Like in the movies, except, except I don’t even know the guy what am I talking about!”  
She groaned loudly and threw her head back in defeat. She had a million thoughts racing through her brain all at once, it was dizzying. She could still see his face. He felt so familiar, though she didn’t think she’d ever met him before.  
“Am I losing it, Maggie? Is this the true definition of ‘boy-crazy’? I’ve truly lost my mind because of a random boy? Am I diseased?” Her panic made Maggie laugh.  
“Ava, calm down, holy shit.”  
“Maggie, you don’t understand the sheer magnitude of attraction I experienced.”  
“I think you might be---”  
“Maggie, I could have his children.”  
“Okay, okay, slow down,” Maggie finally stopped fiddling with her cooking and stepped in front of Ava, holding both of her hands in hers, and looking her dead in the eye.  
“Number one, you’re a virgin and you graduate super soon, you need to focus on school. If you go have sex with some guy and end up pregnant and don’t even get a high school diploma, I’ll actually kill you.”  
“I’m not actually going to--”  
“Let me finish.” Maggie interrupted. She felt like a mother giving her daughter ‘the talk’. “Secondly, I know you don’t have alot of experience with dating, but you said he looked like he might have been in college right? Well, be careful. Older boys can try to take advantage of your kindness and immaturity, they can be sly.”  
The more Maggie spoke the more uneasy Ava felt; she couldn’t help but wonder if an older boy had taken advantage of her precious friend already, to inspire her to give this advice.  
“Finally, I don’t think you’re crazy. Maybe this is what they call ‘Love at first sight’.” She laughed. “You’re wearing your grubbiest sweater and he _still_ got lost in your eyes, that’s something!” 

Their hands were still clasped together, and looking into her friends eyes, Ava started to cry. Maggie was surprised at the sudden mood swing and immediately tried to console her.  
“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?”  
Fat, warm tears trickled down her cheeks and dripped onto her sweater. She didn’t bother wiping her face.  
“I-I just… This has n..never ha-happened to me before…” Her voice was pitchy and choked by emotion.  
“What do you mean?”  
“No one’s ever liked me before, no one’s ever...ever given me their number, no one’s ever had a crush on me, I’ve never--” She paused to clear her nose. “I’ve never even gotten a _Valentine’s day card_ , except from you.”  
Maggie pulled her in for a hug and rubbed her palm in gentle circles against her back. 

 

 

The cookie bag sat intimidatingly on the table. Ava and Maggie both sat in chairs across from it, as though they were a pair of cops interrogating their criminal.  
“I think you should do it.”  
“You think? Aren’t you supposed to, like, wait three days or something?”  
“Ava,” Maggie said. “If it was the other way around, would _you_ want to wait three days after doing something as bold as giving out your number, just for the person to wait around because it’s what they do in romantic comedies? Think of the anxiety!”  
“You have a point.” Ava agreed. She couldn’t imagine doing something as foreward as giving her number out. She admired the boy for making the first move. 

They handled it like a team. Maggie held the bag so Ava could see the number, and Ava held the phone and started dialing. Her fingers were shaking, but with more excitement and less fear than she'd expected.  
“Holy lord it’s ringing!”  
“That’s what happens when you call someone!”  
“Oh my god, what if this was a bad----H-Hello?”  
They both waited with bated breath.  
The voice on the other end of the line was cold, suspicious at first.  
“Hello?”  
Excitement disappeared, fear returned by the wheelbarrow.  
“Y..yes, hello, I’m looking for, uh, the boy from the coffee place? He, uhm, gave me his number?” Ava stammered. Her heart was in her throat and she was worried she’d puke it up she was so nervous.  
She could hear some sort of noise from the other end, and other voices in the background.  
“O-oh! Hey, um, shit, yeah, th..that's me. I mean, th..thanks for calling.”  
Good, he sounded as nervous as she was.  
“You’re welcome? Um,, sorry if I’m being weird for calling so soon, my friend wanted--”  
“No, no! It’s c..cool, I think the trend of making th-the other person sweat by waiting to call is really outdated, t-to be honest.”  
“Yeah, me too.” Ava smiled. She fiddled with the whisps of hair that fell over her shoulders. “So..”  
The boy turned away from the phone and yelled out at a voice in the background. It sounded like someone was heckling him about who he was on the phone with.  
“S-sorry, so, yeah,” He spoke quieter, avoiding the perked ears of whoever was listening to him on the phone. It must have been the siblings he mentioned before. “I was w..wondering if you’d like to get together sometime?”  
Ava exchanged a look with Maggie, trying to convey to her in one expression what was happening, and Maggie seemed to understand, giving her a thumbs-up.  
“I’d really like that.”  
“Okay, great, th...that’s great.” He replied, relieved. “Ah, I’m l..late in asking but, I didn’t g..get your name earlier today?”  
“Oh!” She'd been so thrown by what had happened she'd forgotten to introduce herself. “My name is Ava. And yours is Odin, right? It was written on the coffee cup.”  
“Y-yeah..that’s me.” He answered. 

Suddenly, a loud noise erupted from his end and a chorus of angry voices stirred up in the background. Odin had to turn away from the phone and told someone to leave his brother’s stuff alone. Ava wondered what his family was like.  
“Ah, sorry, I h-have to go. I’ll c..call you back later?”  
“Sure.”  
“Alright,” He smiled on the other end of the phone, though she couldn’t see it. “I’ll t-talk to you later, Ava.”  
“Bye, Odin.”  
_Click._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I didn't end up updating when I said I would, what a shocker ! :') Happy Holidays everyone!!  
> I hope everyone's finals went well ! Let's make 2018 our bitch, y'all.


	5. We Can't Keep Meeting Like This

Okay, the first two times were coincidental, but now this was just getting ridiculous.  
Apparently he thought so, too.

 

Maggie was at home sick. While Ava was out, poor Maggie was curled up in all the blankets they owned and every once in awhile sipped spoonfuls of the pot of soup she’d made the day before.  
Therefore, when the pager starting beeping it was Ava who took the call without her.  
She'd been nervous about going at it alone at first, until she arrived on the scene-- a bank robbery in progress-- and saw all the black asphalt-like substance gluing several cops in place outside the institution. The keen knowledge that she was able to kick the absolute shit out of the creator of this coal-colored gunk gave her a satisfying bolt of confidence. So after briefly running through the situation with the officer on-scene and getting him to sign her volunteer form, Ava entered the establishment alone.

When she stepped inside the bank she was greeted with a myriad of bodies--customers and staff--cocooned and immobilized in the asphalt with their limbs and even their mouths covered by the substance. Their eyes were wide with terror.  
There was a sound coming from the vault room.  
Ava cautiously made her way towards the noises. There was a trail of wet blood leading to the vault as well, so much, Ava thought, that it wouldn't be surprising to her if she found only a dead body waiting for her at the end of the path.  
What she did find, however, was a blood-soaked Smokeboy without a top on.

He was facing away from her so she could only see his back, which was just a moment away from being hidden by the t-shirt he was rolling up his arms. Normally, she would have been deeply embarrassed to see anyone in a state of undress, but in this case she was more mortified than anything else. In the brief moment she could see his bare skin, she could hardly see any of his usually pale complexion underneath layers of blood. There were several entry holes from bullets, though fewer than the amount of blood would suggest. She was disgusted to steal this look just as one of the bullets still inside his flesh was pushed from the entry hole and dropped on the floor with a _clink_ , the sight of which caused her to audibly gasp and attract the boy's attention. He yanked the clean t-shirt down over himself and turned swiftly towards her.  
""Y-You again?" He groaned weakly. He tried to come off as acidic but a fraction of the pain he was enduring made its way into his voice. He stood up, straightened his back, and took a deep, ragged breath. She watched with some shade of interest as he composed himself and went from suffering to serious in a matter of seconds.  
"How l-long have you been standing there, p-pervert?"  
Fire flashed under Ava's cheeks. "I'm not a pervert! I'm arresting you!"  
Strangely, his attire stood out like a sore thumb. The shirt he'd put on was sporty and black, and his lower half was dressed in track pants. Beside him was a large gym bag stuffed with wads of cash taken from the vault. The only thing that didn't make him look like a skinny dudebro was the stupidly out-of-place mask the situation forced him to wear.  
Ava noticed he had another bullet hole above his eye, with the blood having been already wiped away, that looked small and old, though she was certain it hadn't been there when she'd faced him just a few days prior. In addition, when he leaned down to pick up the bag full of money, he used the arm she was certain she'd broken.  
He was staring straight at her, as though he could tell she was putting the pieces together and waiting for her to say something.  
"You look awful, but not as awful as I was expecting." She said.  
"I d-don't know if I should consider that a c-c-compliment or not."  
"It's not." She hissed. "You can heal yourself?"  
He didn't respond, but in the short amount of time they'd been making eye contact Ava noticed the bullet hole had become smaller and was nearly healed completely. That answered her question.  
“Do y-you have some sort of radar on me…um..” His voice trailed off. The bullet hole was gone now. “Wh-what do they call you?”  
She was hesitant to answer.  
“Firestarter.”  
“Wow.”  
“Shut up and put down the money, thief.” Ava snapped at him. That was enough of the stupid hero-villain banter.  
"L-listen, _Firestarter_ , last time I let you th-think you had the upperhand--"  
" _’Let me’_ ?"  
"But y-you've become a nuisance and I'm leaving now."  
He took a few steps forward, but Ava blocked the exit and raised her fists. Spheres of fire flared from her knuckles and surrounded each hand.  
"I don't think so." 

She swung her arm, sending a blast of flames in his direction, but he quickly side-stepped out of the line of fire and her shot merely blackened the metal of the wall.  
When she went to summon another blast to replace it, she struggled. Where flames should have danced, only a rash of flankers formed on her knuckles.  
She was confused and momentarily caught off guard.  
Never had the fire failed to come to life when she willed it.  
She tried again, this time successfully, though with more strain, but by the time she was ready to attack again Smokeboy had taken the opportunity and landed a hard kick to her knee, causing her to buckle and fall forward.  
The boy stepped past her. Her body felt foreign, heavy, but she refused to let him get away. She looked for something to throw, anything, but unable to find anything on the ground around her she reached down and pulled off her own sneaker. She lifted herself up so she sat on her thighs, then hauled back and threw her sneaker with such force that when it hit him in the shoulder she heard a loud crack and the bone was dislocated from the impact. Out of pain and surprise, he yelped and leaned all his weight against the wall beside him, giving Ava a chance to shake her head free of the strange illness that seemed to have befallen her and get up to pursue him.  
Smokeboy shot a look accusingly at the sneaker on the floor beside him and reached up to hold his shoulder.  
"Are y-y-you serious? A _sh-shoe_?” He panted, and as she stomped towards him he grit his teeth and sharply snapped his shoulder back in place, eliciting a throaty grunt in pain. She was right behind him and just before she could throw a punch he softly blew a breath of smoke that filled the whole room instantly. 

Ava clamped her eyes shut and blindly punched the air in front of her to no avail. Because he’d lost his breath from his injury the smoke didn’t last long, clearing within a moment. When she could see again, Smokeboy had made it to the lobby. She chased him: there was no way she was going to let him use one of his stupid tricks to sneak out of here with his payload, no goddamn way.  
With only one shoe and an exasperated look on her face, Ava stopped in the entryway of the lobby and stared at the villain standing a few feet away from her, purposely out of view of the front window. He’d grabbed one of the cocooned hostages and held the body in front of him like a shield. The stuffed gym bag sat on the ground by his leg. With a snap of his fingers the tar dissolved back into smoke and revealed the hostage trapped inside; a small girl whose arm he held in a firm grip. She didn’t look much older than 8 and was trembling in fear. Smokeboy blew a gentle stream of smoke from his lips, which hovered above his free hand until he solidified it into an inky charcoal blade and it fell into his palm. He pressed the edge of the newly crafted weapon against the thin skin of the child’s neck and turned to look straight into his pursuer’s eyes.  
In the moment she met his glare her chest became tight and she could feel confusing butterflies in her stomach she had to shoo away. She felt as though something was different, like he was more familiar than before, but when she tried to focus too hard on his face the mask he wore, like her own, inhibited her facial recognition abilities and she couldn’t put her finger on it. 

These thoughts were rapidly displaced from her mind, however, and her attention went back to the matter at hand.  
Ava couldn’t move a muscle. Even though she wasn’t confident he’d actually go through with hurting the child, she couldn’t take the risk.  
“Now, y-you’re going to stay right there and let me go, or else I’ll slit this girl’s th-throat.” He threatened. The situation burned her up, literally and figuratively.  
“You son of a bitch.” She hissed at him through clenched teeth.  
“Do you r-really want to challenge me? I’ll do it.” As he spoke, the little girl began bawling her eyes out. Ava couldn't risk this child’s life on the gamble that he might have been bluffing, and had no choice but to give in, no matter how much it frustrated her.  
“Fine.” She conceded. “I won't chase you, let her go.”  
Smokeboy relaxed his posture and though he still held the girl, he evaporated his weapon.  
“Good. I was afraid all that fire h-had melted your brain.”  
He finally let his hostage go, allowing her to run towards the cocoon that must have held a parent. Even though she’d said she'd back down her rage ignited flames at the tip of her fingers. All she wanted was to see this villain in cuffs.  
“Don’t get in my way a-again.” 

 

Then, like a gluttonous eagle devouring a fish, smoke swallowed up the entire room. The thick fog snatched away Ava’s sight and extended its reach beyond the interior of the bank and consumed the perimeter of the building, leaving the police a gaggle of teary-eyed, coughing fools.  
Ava couldn't open her eyes nor breathe; she couldn't even try to listen for the footsteps of her rival, the sounds of coughing drowned out any other noise.  
Once the smog had dissipated, Smokeboy was nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, across the street, a young man was walking away from the scene of the crime, carrying a gym bag in one hand. No one stopped him, no one had seen him exiting the scene, and no one even considered he'd be anything but an innocent bystander. Afterall, he looked like he'd just come from the gym. Nothing suspicious about that.  
The boy headed downtown, towards the bad part of the neighborhood where the majority of low-lifes and villains resided. He lived in a shitty apartment where the hot water didn’t work, the windows were broken and barred, and with only one mattress he was forced to sleep on the stained, ripped couch every night.  
When he arrived home he locked the door behind him and slung the bag of cash onto said couch.  
“What the _hell_ are you wearing, Odin?”  
Crow and Raven sat boredly in the livingroom, one on the floor and one in the armchair. They laughed boorishly at his sporty outfit.  
“I thought you were supposed to be robbing a bank, not hitting the weights with your noodle-arms.” Raven heckled.  
“What’s your record? 10lbs? Did you manage at least 5 push-ups today?” Crow snickered.  
Odin sighed and pulled his cellphone from his pocket, ignoring them. As always, he texted his boss to inform him that the loot was ready for pick-up and gave him a short report of how things went. The reply informed him that a henchman would be by in 10 minutes to retrieve the cash.

He went to the kitchen and grabbed an open box of cereal from the counter, then turned back to his sisters as he ate handfuls of the stale Fruit Loops.  
“Why aren’t y-you two running amok around town?” He asked them. Normally they were causing chaos and carrying out whatever task Olai had laying around for them. It wasn’t often they were just sitting around indoors.  
“It’s Crow, she can’t tuck her wings in, so we can’t go out.” Raven said. Both sets of wings were out, as tucking them in underneath tight clothes was uncomfortable, but they were given strict orders to keep their wings hidden when leaving the building. Crow had her wings resting against the floor. Around her were dozens of loose feathers.  
“It’s not a big deal.” She replied.  
It was clear her transformation was well underway. She’d been losing feathers left, right, and center, and would soon have more lost than she had remaining. She’d had much less energy lately, and her wings had been behaving less and less frequently.  
“None of Pedri’s g-goons have been here to see you, have they?”  
“What does that matter?” Asked Raven.  
“If Pedri hears th-that you’re losing your powers you’ll become useless to him.” Odin stated. “He’ll k-kill you.”  
Crow groaned.  
“If this is what happens when you fall in love, I’m not going to bother. I’d rather be able to fly.” Raven told them.  
“It d-does make things more complicated.”  
“Shut up, Odin, you’re just jealous because I have my Other Half and you’re a lonely, gross loser.” Crow snapped. This insult made her sister laugh. 

Although the dumb remark made him roll his eyes, it also acutely reminded him that he’d been wanting to call his new ‘friend’ he’d made the other day. He'd been thinking about her constantly while he was at the bank.  
He couldn’t get over it. He’d never really been into lovey-dovey stuff, Valentine’s Day, PDA, or romance in general. With his line of work, he’d just accepted that dating and crushes weren’t in the cards for him.  
That was, of course, until he’d bumped into Ava. 

It was insane. The second they made eye contact, everything else blurred into obscurity. She was the only thing he could see. He became starkly aware of every detail about her; the fiery color of her hair, the scent of her shampoo, the bland clothes she wore (which she somehow made look charming), and the rough red skin on her knuckles. Every single thing about her ignited a fire in the pit of his stomach and spread shivers across his skin.  
To be honest, it freaked him out a little bit. He’d seen her for what, 10 minutes? Surely this colossal attraction he was experiencing wasn’t going to last, and yet he still wanted to call her.  
He _really_ wanted to call her.  
As casually as he could, Odin strolled over to the bathroom and snuck inside. His sisters had started up a loud conversation (probably about his mediocrity) and probably wouldn’t hear him.  
_Normally_ , he would not even consider calling a girl before they even went on their first date (not that he had any previous experience to base this on), he didn’t want to appear desperate or, god forbid, _clingy_. 

He was already regretting his decision when the first ring came in.  
This was not cool of him, this was not remotely smooth. She’d agreed to a date and they were going out in just a few days, there was really no need to---  
“Hello?”  
Fucking shit.  
“H...hey, um,” He cleared his throat. He tried to get his infernal stutter under control. “Is Ava there?”  
“No, she’s out. Who’s this?”  
“Ah, sorry, must have d..dialed a wr-wrong..-”  
“Is this that boy Ava’s going out with on Saturday? Odin, right?” The voice on the other end was hoarse and congested. They must have been sick.  
“...Yes.”  
“A bit needy of you to be calling again so soon, dontcha think?” At the last syllable they clicked their tongue for emphasis and Odin was two seconds from hanging up.  
“...No.”  
“I think it is.” They chuckled. “Did you need anything or were you just being clingy?”  
No..  
_not clingy._  
“No, I’m just...Nevermind, nice to meet you, good-bye.”  
He hung up.  
That was horrible.  
And, to top it off, he hadn’t even gotten to speak with her.  
This would be much, _much_ easier if only Ava had a cellphone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everytime I make Odin do anything with his powers I'm like 'this is a stupid power combination also wtf is smoke power' but trust me, y'all, i'm doing my best and only have it like this because I needed something that went with his thing in the comic and ALSO would be useful in a villain situation. I've wanted to take it back like 80 times but I couldn't think of ANYTHING ELSE that a. could be used in a fight somehow , b. wasn't OP (for a little bit I considered his power might be just 'if i touch you you die' or something, but that's way too OP), and c. was relevant to his sin/demon in the comic. So yeah pls y'all let me know your opinions on that cuz I think it's dumb but I'm 5 chapters in now so ?? oh well  
> The next chapter will involve Ava and Odin's first date! One time, when I was RPing with a friend the characters went on a first date, and I'm very bad at thinking up date locations/activities, so in this first date they went to a RAVE in which everyone put down garbage bags on the ground and had a big slip'n slide party. The RP died shortly after that.  
> Needless to say, that PROBABLY won't happen for this particular first date.  
> Anyway, have a lovely day everyone and enjoy this chapter !


End file.
